Budos Band returns to Staten Island for a benefit concert tomorrow at the Music Hall

View full sizeThe Budos Band
with The Headlocks & Tali Ratzon, to benefit the New York Center for Interpersonal Development.Where:
The Music Hall, on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmond Terr., Livingston; Snug-Harbor.comWhen:
7-11 p.m. March 23How much:
General admission tickets are $25 (orchestra) & $20 (balcony) at NYCID.org.More information:
Visit TheBudos.com and TheHeadlocks.com or call 718-947-4133.

By JOE TACOPINO

Many cite the influence of Fela Kuti’s deep Nigerian funk or the Afro-beat outfit Antibalas when describing the sound of The Budos Band, but there’s something uniquely Staten Island about the group.

If you listen close enough you can hear the rawness of hardcore punk and the recycled soul of the Wu Tang Clan: two seemingly opposite musical forces that dominated the borough in the early 1990s.

So, when the band plays a local gig it always seems like both a reunion and a strange amalgamation of the Island’s cultural history, right there on stage.

“It’s like coming home and playing for your family,” said Vinny Balestrino, who lives in New Brighton and just returned from a West Coast tour with the group.

The Budos Band will perform March 23 in The Music Hall at Snug Harbor, along with local folk-rock group The Headlocks and Israeli-American singer/songwriter Tali Ratzon.

This will be the first Budos show on the Island since August of last year, when an outdoor concert at Tappen Park was rained out and the band moved the party to the Full Cup instead.

“It’s nice to get away, be in different places, and meet different people,” Balestrino said. “But these are the people that supported us from the beginning.”

The event is a benefit for the New York Center for Interpersonal Development, a local non-profit that helps the borough’s “disconnected youth” with career development and education services.

“I work with kids who are not working and out of school,” said Headlocks guitarist Frank Duffy, a job developer at NYCID. “They come through our doors looking for a chance to prove themselves — to become something.”

NYCID offers services to help young people get their GED diplomas and place them into positions at Island businesses and non-profits where they can gain real-life work experience.

Members of both The Budos Band and The Headlocks work as teachers in the New York City education system. The Budos even need to check the school calendar before scheduling a tour.

“The majority of the trips are basically scheduled around the teaching schedule,” said Balestrino, who is a visual arts teacher at McKee Technical High School in St. George. “There’s like three of us that are still in the world of education.”

The 10-member group played a number of West Coast shows — from Vancouver, British Columbia to Las Vegas, Nevada — during the mid-February winter break, when they were able to try out some new material.

“They’re not really on wax yet,” Balestrino said about the new songs. “We were actually playing those for the first time out on this trip. The songs really went over well.”

The Budos have released three albums on the Bushwick-based Daptone record label. The band emerged out of late-night jam sessions with associated acts such as the Fast Breakin’ Classics and Schlitz 36. They initially called themselves Los Barbudos, which means “the bearded ones,” but changed the name for brevity’s sake.

Even those who haven’t heard of the Budos Band have probably heard the Budos Band. Their funk instrumentals have appeared on numerous soundtracks, video games, commercials, and hip-hop remixes.

The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Budos’ “Ride or Die” on their multi-platinum hit “Imma Be.” Rap artist Wale used the band’s “Chicago Falcon” on his breakthrough “Mixtape About Nothing.”

Also, guitarist and Tottenville High School grad Tom Brenneck has his fingerprints on everything from Cee-Lo to Amy Winehouse and Jay-Z. Along with the Dap Kings, he made Sharon Jones an international commodity, and his latest project has been plucking the enigmatic soul singer Charles Bradley out of obscurity.

The band’s next genius riffs, hollowed-out bass lines or killer horn combos can be previewed at the Snug Harbor show, before they get lifted for a Hot 97 rap track.

“We need about five more songs to really round it, to make it a full length,” Balestrino said. “It’s just getting into the studio, it’s not always easy when you got 10 guys.”

For the band, next Friday’s show is not only a break from the road, but a chance to give back to the gritty streets that cultivated their sound.

“We wanna help make it a better place here,” Balestrino said. “Most of us still live here.”